Question About ADUs in Birmingham (apartment, rent, lawyer)

[bhampride]

Hey - I own a house in the city of Birmingham in an urban neighborhood and I'm curious if anyone has any advice for me. I have a large old detached garage that came with the house. I'm hoping to convert the old garage into an apartment or mother-in-law suite. I called the city for clarification on what I need to do to get a permit. I was told that this is illegal in the city of Birmingham and that only existing mother-in-law suites are permitted/grandfathered in. ADUs or "Accessory Dwelling Units" are a crucial component for urban density and affordable housing. The ordinance against such structures seems like really dated thinking in terms of urban development.

Does anyone know if there are any ways to get around this? Any advice? My lot is zoned single family but there are multiple apartment buildings on the same block as mine.

[OldBankhead]

Bribe the clerk for a variance/exception? I don't know. If they already told you you can't do it... you can't do it.

[deviousde]

contact a lawyer that specializes in this

[tacosman]

Originally Posted by bhampride

Hey - I own a house in the city of Birmingham in an urban neighborhood and I'm curious if anyone has any advice for me. I have a large old detached garage that came with the house. I'm hoping to convert the old garage into an apartment or mother-in-law suite. I called the city for clarification on what I need to do to get a permit. I was told that this is illegal in the city of Birmingham and that only existing mother-in-law suites are permitted/grandfathered in. ADUs or "Accessory Dwelling Units" are a crucial component for urban density and affordable housing. The ordinance against such structures seems like really dated thinking in terms of urban development.

Does anyone know if there are any ways to get around this? Any advice? My lot is zoned single family but there are multiple apartment buildings on the same block as mine.

You aren't going to be able to do it(legally).

Now you may be able to do it, rent it out, and then hope none of the neighbors notice and complains.....thats a possibility. But I'd hate to take a chance on building such a thing and then one neighbor complains and goes to city and you are fubar'd.....

As for ADUs and their role in urban density and affordable housing; ummm yeah, this isn't san franciso. Birmingham has *plenty* of affordable housing options, both in the city and out. There is no need to cram adu's in peoples backyards and demand long established zoning changes to meet a need that doesn't exist. Now is *every single part* of the birmingham area super affordable? No, of course not. But it makes sense to change zoning standards when there is a signicant shorting of housing that results in prices being driven up to unaffordable levels throughout the metro area. That is most definately not the case here. Hell I bet there is actually a lot of safe and affordable housing in the birmingham area available now for about the same or less than you would want to get for your ADU after built.

But in the end it doesn't really matter whether my opinion or yours is more valid on ADUs here. The bottom line is that regardless of that it's a no go and they are most definately not going to make an exception for you on a single ADU(if they did that then pretty much anyone would be able to get a permit for an ADU)

That said, I'm aware of ADU's in the city now that werent grandfathered in and are currently illegal, and yet they've been rented out for a bit now. It's not my neighborhood so I don't care enough to tell, so if you want to roll the dice and hope the same happens for you.....